Hyman, Aaron M. (2023). The Matter of Merchant Paper (Unpublished). In: CURRENT RESEARCH. LEKTÜRESEMINAR AM ZI. 07.06.2023.
Around 1608, Peter Paul Rubens produced an oil sketch of the face of a Black man, a head study that the Flemish artist would ultimately mobilize in a large painting of the Adoration of the Magi. To make the initial sketch, he reached for a sheet of merchant paper scrawled with a list of transactions—sums exchanged for goods received and shipped. It would be easy to wave this away as a case of simple, frugal reuse: the artist reached for what was at hand, readily and cheaply available. This paper (a chapter of a book in progress) argues, instead, that the sheet mattered quite a bit more and shaped not only Rubens’s aesthetic choices but also the thematic resonances that accreted around a figure that would play a large role in the artist’s career and pictorial imaginary
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Speech) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Art History > Ancient and Medieval Art History |
UniBE Contributor: |
Hyman, Aaron Michael |
Subjects: |
700 Arts |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Irina Dudar |
Date Deposited: |
03 Apr 2024 14:14 |
Last Modified: |
03 Apr 2024 14:14 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/195592 |
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